Main menu For students For teachers Explore our subjects Student events & courses

Free Sociology resources

Topics

Ideological State Apparatus

Marxist theorist, Louis Althusser argued that the bourgeoisie maintained control of the proletariat via both force and coercion (repressive state apparatus) and through ideology (ideological state apparatus). The latter was achieved through institutions such as schools and the media, the former through the agencies such as the police.